Friday, August 8, 2008
I'll see your necktie and raise you a pair of control tops
No more pantyhose, no more neckties. I actually like Ben Stein--as a comedian, not as a conservative. (I'm like most liberals: we claimed Funny Hill.) Anyway, if you can give up neckties--which get caught in file drawers, shredders, anything with a vice, clamp, flap, shut, bam, boom-- and have more to do with sumptuary laws than egalitarianism can we cease fire on the panty hose?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Money talk taboo
This is why we can't get salary information: money talk is taboo. If people won't provide information about salary--and getting ranges makes people touchy enough--it is almost impossible to get accurate salary data for surveys.
Many salary survey sites are getting around the talking with people problem by using the salary information posted in job ads. However, this is merely a range, and they don't know what number the person was offered and what she accepted for the position.
Compound this with most people don't know how much money they make, just that they have some, and you can understand why salary data is unreliable.
Many salary survey sites are getting around the talking with people problem by using the salary information posted in job ads. However, this is merely a range, and they don't know what number the person was offered and what she accepted for the position.
Compound this with most people don't know how much money they make, just that they have some, and you can understand why salary data is unreliable.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Sway podcast
I have put Sway on my list because of the chapter about interviewing, and because I am also reading Predictably Irrational, and I think people who are prepping for interviews should listen to this part on the podcast about interviews.
Done?
The type of interview questions they are talking about are simulations. The idea is that you give the candidate a defined task or a problem to accomplish, correctly, in a set amount of time. Make the column in this spreadsheet add up. Catalog this webpage. Roleplay a reference encounter. Deliver a presentation. These are all examples of simulation questions in a librarian interview, and you should be prepared for them.
You should also be prepared for the ways that interviewers mess them up. The interviewers may not have prepared a scoring guide so they can compare the skills of all of the candidates equally. You may not be perfect, but you should appear trainable--a 2 out of 5 on a difficult simulation with great references is better than a 4 out of 5 with an I would never hire them again reference (some people just give good interview). They may not have tested the question, just taken it from a book, and they are not prepared for the broad range of responses--ones the book didn't tell them to expect. The interviewers also don't realize that if a simulation doesn't have a scale, it needs to have a solution or a goal. Or a mix of both.
If you have claimed to be able to do something--use a program, write or speak another language--you should be prepared for a simulation question to appear on the interview script.
Done?
The type of interview questions they are talking about are simulations. The idea is that you give the candidate a defined task or a problem to accomplish, correctly, in a set amount of time. Make the column in this spreadsheet add up. Catalog this webpage. Roleplay a reference encounter. Deliver a presentation. These are all examples of simulation questions in a librarian interview, and you should be prepared for them.You should also be prepared for the ways that interviewers mess them up. The interviewers may not have prepared a scoring guide so they can compare the skills of all of the candidates equally. You may not be perfect, but you should appear trainable--a 2 out of 5 on a difficult simulation with great references is better than a 4 out of 5 with an I would never hire them again reference (some people just give good interview). They may not have tested the question, just taken it from a book, and they are not prepared for the broad range of responses--ones the book didn't tell them to expect. The interviewers also don't realize that if a simulation doesn't have a scale, it needs to have a solution or a goal. Or a mix of both.
If you have claimed to be able to do something--use a program, write or speak another language--you should be prepared for a simulation question to appear on the interview script.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Ways to make money working online
OK, I'm skeptical (aren't I always?) but some people must be able to make web work pay because they don't shut up about it on their blogs...hey, did I just have an accidental sarcastic comment? Does that make it ironic?
Anyway, if you are determined to try making money working online, you might want to consider numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 and put a library spin on it. Many of these suggestions also require that you a) fork out some of your own cash for fees to set up and b) do some initial preparation, including class notes, to get started. In addition, customers won't be automatic: you will have to set up some ads on Craigslist and Kijiji to get people to your seminars, but those are free.
Anyway, if you are determined to try making money working online, you might want to consider numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 and put a library spin on it. Many of these suggestions also require that you a) fork out some of your own cash for fees to set up and b) do some initial preparation, including class notes, to get started. In addition, customers won't be automatic: you will have to set up some ads on Craigslist and Kijiji to get people to your seminars, but those are free.
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